Iraqi forces have reclaimed Tikrit, prime minister says

Iraqi security forces and allied Shiite militiamen prepare to attack Islamic State extremists in Tikrit, 80 miles ﻿north of Baghdad﻿ on Tuesday﻿. After Tikrit was recaptured, hopes ran high for a Mosul offensive.﻿

Photo: Khalid Mohammed, STF

BAGHDAD - Iraqi forces claimed to have seized the city of Tikrit from Islamic State militants on Tuesday after U.S.-led airstrikes cleared the way for ground operations, an advance that would mark the government's most significant victory over the extremists since their summer blitz.

In a televised address, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced that Tikrit had been liberated after security forces and "popular mobilization" units, a grouping of pro-government fighters that includes Iranian-backed Shiite militias, made rapid inroads into the city. However, military officials said some areas of the city were yet to be entered because roads and buildings were rigged with explosives - raising the possibility that some militants remain.

The recapture of Tikrit, about 110 miles north of Baghdad, would constitute the first time that Iraqi security forces have wrested back a major population center from the militant group, boosting hopes for an offensive targeting the larger city of Mosul.

But it also highlighted the inability of Iraqi forces to advance without the support of precision airstrikes. The month-long battle to secure the city, which initially relied on Iranian advisers and left the United States out of the planning, had stalled until U.S.-led coalition strikes helped pave the way for a ground offensive.

Abadi said Iraqi and coalition forces had carried out "painful" airstrikes against the militants, enabling the final push by pro-government forces.

The inclusion of Iranian-backed militias in the Iraqi government's offensive, however, is likely to cause some consternation in Washington, where there were concerns about U.S. planes serving as a vanguard strike force for paramilitary groups accused of human rights abuses. Both the U.S. and the Shiite militias had balked at working together on the offensive, but they ended up doing so tacitly.

Iraqi military officials have said that the capture of Tikrit, which is about halfway between Baghdad and Mosul, the Islamic State's power base in Iraq, is necessary before the launch of any operation to reclaim Mosul and the surrounding province of Nineveh.